Random mind dump!

Oh I have so many thoughts right now, all unrelated. prepare for a mind dump! Maybe this will help me calm down!

1. People in charge should stop being stupid and making stupid decisions.

2. If your pregnant, this week is official announcement week. ( if your my friend apparently) I already have had 10 different announcements and its only Thursday.

3. I have a few really good friends. I'm thankful for them.

4. If you have a problem with me or something I said/did tell me not someone else! Lame sauce!

5. I miss my family!

6. I wish I wasn't so kind anymore. Sometimes I wish I could rewind to the me of 5 years ago and go on a tirade right now!

7. Stop choosing to be offended. It's petty and only makes you seem whiny, needy, and annoying.

8. I hate passive aggressiveness. Say what you mean, mean what you say. Don't say I don't have to come when you'll be upset if I don't show up.

9. Stop judging me and then telling me about your judgements of others.

10. I love blogging.

11. I hate standardized testing for measuring what students know and what teachers have taught. I taught a kid to read this year, but they won't pass the test. So glad I spent my time with him anyway... Because that's what will matter in 10 years!

12. Education in America is broken. And decent teachers should be fleeing, if we'd only do what was best for ourselves.

Well, my mind is finally empty. Hopefully I can stop feeling so dang anxious, today!

My Very First Donors Choose Project

Hey everyone! I had so many good intentions of posting this last week. However, we had lots of traveling, school events, funerals, and a broken computer which all play into why its getting posted now. From my phone.... hence the lack of built in links (note to blogger... id like your app much better if i could put pictures where i wanted them and hyperlink.)


So, have you heard of Donors Choose? basically its a place where teachers can go and write grants for materials they need in their classrooms and people can choose which projects to donate to. So, I've been a member of donors choose for YEARS now, but never written up a project until now. If you'd like to see my project copy and paste the link below (sorry I can't hyperlink it!)

http://www.donorschoose.org/erikareyes

For today and tomorrow only you can use the promo code INSPIRE and your donation to my project will be matched. So if you donate $20, $40 will be added to my project. Plus, it's all tax deductible! Love it!

If you can't donate now and want to later, you can still use the link. The only difference is, there won't be the promo code for matching.

Thanks in advance for supporting me and my classroom!!

One Little Word

I'm so excited about my one little word. I was first introduced to this style of resolution last year by my "wish I was her blogger buddy" Lara from less cake more frosting. She is off recuperating from a serious surgery far away from home and I've been thinking about her a ton lately. I hope all is well!

So, my one little word is...

Leap  verb

The act or an instance of believing or trusting in something intangible or incapable of being proved.

I've found great inspiration on Pinterest but the Patrick Lundquist Faith painting has always been a favorite one.

I'll leap into more sincere relationships.

I'll leap into more genuine prayer and authentic scripture study.


I'll leap back into National Board Certification. (Here's to the Disney witches club!)

I'll leap into our new YW curriculum.

I'll leap into living child-free by choice now (as a conscious choice now, rather than forced upon us choice) and not live under the "infertile" shadow.

I'll leap into the teacher blogging world and see if I can keep up.

I'll leap into taking better care of myself.

Leaping to me requires action. It's not passive. This is good for me. I like passive too much! This way I HAVE to work at it.

(none of the pictures do I claim as my own, each link to where I found them)

Last years Goal update

Last year these were my goals I set for myself

1) Keep my focus on what matters most.
2) Do all the little things I know I should every day.
3) Try new things, often.

I did, most of the time, keep focused on what matters most. Loving my family, friends, and my Savior. It's always a balancing act. But I feel I did better last year than the previous year so improvement is good!

I cannot say the same for #2. The year started of pretty well... But that didn't last very long. I think I'll keep this as a goal again this year!

I would say, I didn't withhold from trying new things hardly EVER last year. Especially when it came to food.

I tried every bit of fish that John cooked, or anyone else did for that matter. Shrimp, halibut, mahimahi, tilapia, crab, fish tacos, and even clam strips. You may think this isn't a big deal, let me assure you, it is. I still don't like seafood. But I tried it again, without complaint. And some of it isn't as awful as I thought it was.
I also tried to give eggs another shot for John... That ended in failure. I do not like eggs, Sam I am! I do not like green eggs and ham! (Sorry it's the teacher in me coming out)
The big success in new foods came in me finally trying again and liking avocado, especially Johns guacamole!!
I also spent 42 days pretty much by myself. I meant I wasn't always by myself, but considering John and I do just about everything together those 42 days were spent much lonelier than the other 320!
We went to many places for the first time. Alaska, San Francisco were the biggies. We had such a great time exploring these two places together! So many firsts!
I made many crafty things. I crocheted lots of hats, sock monkey hats to be specific. Scarves and blankets, too. I also made many things using my moms silhouette cameo. Christmas presents, tiles, signs, names for girls camp shirts. Sheesh that machine is amazing and so fun to use!
Finally, in the classroom. Last year was full of new techniques, lessons, management styles, and enter Teacherspayteachers.com and teachers notebook.com. LOVE those two sites and the teacher blogging world. All new to me last year and hopefully this year I will enter this realm and stand on my own two feet.

I really liked my goals from last year and lucky for me, they all tie into my "one little word" for this year's goal. Stay tuned for that reveal next week! Any guesses? And no cheating!

2012 Year In Review

Since this is like my personal journal of sorts, I just wanted to look back through all of my pictures a see what was the most memorable.  


January
January meant a fresh start, being swallowed by national board certification entries, and recieving a new calling to be the Young Women's president at chuch.  Talk about busy! 

This little one, my friend's little girl, came into the world Christmas eve 2011, but I was sick and couldn't make it to see her until this year.  One of the highlights for sure!  

 February

For John's birthday we went up to the 10th anniversary celebration of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City.  They pulled out the mascots, had tons of Olympic athletes there for us to meet and we took Tiffany, the exchange teacher from China, with us. 

 March

March I got to turn in the big blue monster... AKA my entry for National Board Certification.  It was a TON of work, but I'm so glad I went through the process, I learned a lot about myself as a teacher.

My mom treated me to a delicious super nice dinner out at a fancy restaurant for turning in my National Board Certification entries.  Boursin (a french cheese) stuffed steak.  It was DIVINE!

 April

We went to Denver for Spring Break and visited my brother, sister in law, and niece.  LOVE them! 

We also went to San Francisco for the first time.  It was an amazing visit and we had such a great time.  We went for one of my college roommate's wedding.  So happy for them!

May

Steven Sharp Nelson

Jon Scmidt

 In May we went to our first of 3 Piano Guys Concerts for the year.  I've LOVED Jon Schmidt's piano music for over a decade.  If you haven't checked out The Piano Guys, you must!  Right now, but be sure to come back and thank me later!  They're amazing!  Too many favorites to name them all, but here is the one John likes the best!











June
June meant me taking my 6 tests for National Board Certification and John leaving for fish camp in Alaska.  All of which happened on the same day.  John treated me to a stay in a fancy Las Vegas hotel room at the Hilton Elara so I could relax before my big tests.  June also meant lots of Tuffy and me time.  A lot of which he spent like that! June also meant teaching summer school, amidst lots of drama, of course.  And my first girls camp as YW president. 

 
July 
 

• Baby Jake was born.   I got to be there, it was amazing.  My SIL had him SO fast, ok, at least I thought it was super fast.  I headed to the hospital about 10pm and was home by 5am.
• I also got to watch my niece Lilly for several days while her mom and dad celebrated their anniversary in Las Vegas.  That little girl is SO cute and precious!  I adore her! So does Tuffy!
•  Then, I finally got to go to Alaska to meet up with John after 42 days apart!  We had an awesome 10 day visit with my cousins, aunt, and second cousins.  We fished, unsuccessfully, shared meals with each other, and saw lots of scenery.  Oh, and the BEARS!  FISHING IN THE RIVER!  SO much fun!  

 August
 August meant back to school and real life.  However gorgeous sunsets like these make life worth it! 

September 
Meant Jayke's baby blessing and hanging out with John's family.  Toby, the 5 year old "borrowed" my camera and its so fun to see what he sees from his point of view!

October
In October we were very 'cultured'.  We got our new iPhone 5s, which was probably the biggest event of the month!  I saw Hairspray at Tuachan in September and in October John and I saw Aladdin.  Such great shows.  We also saw The Piano Guys again.  Of course, October meant Halloween and all the stress the Elementary School Halloween Carnival brings. but still, SO Much Fun!

November

Gangsta family

November brought lots of family time.  We went on road trips to Vegas.  Grabbed ice cream from various sources and celebrated holidays together.  Love my family!

 

Annual Thanksgiving Feast at our house!  This year Dana got to come! SO much fun!

December

 

• This month the washing machine died.
• I tortured my poor Tuffy
• My brother got engaged!!! 
• We had our annual pasole and tostada Christmas Eve Dinner with John's family.
• We celebrated Chrstmas Day with John's family and mine!! So fun to be able to celebrate with both families.
• We hosted Christmas dinner
• We bought a brand new washer and dryer.

 

Tanner realizing what the gift actually is rather than what he thought it was. So FUNNY!

It's Christ'moose' time!

It is, as they say, the most wonderful time of the year!
I love moose! I think they're adorable. Plus, the seem kinda clumsy so I relate to them! So I have amassed a huge collection of moose and every thanksgiving weekend they begin to cover every surface in my house.
My mother in law is a master seamstress. A couple years ago she made me the table runner. She designed the pattern herself. Like I said, master!
Anyway, this year, back in April or May or so, she told me she was going to be doing a handmade Christmas this year. There was no hesitation in my asking for what I wanted... A matching tree skirt and stockings for the table runner.

I LOVE THEM!!!!

They turned out so cute and look fabulous!

Have a very merry Christmas and remember Christ is the reason for the season!

Family time

Before we get our highlights and haircuts

Black Friday was a total fail in the good deals department thanks to best buy only having 16 of their super cheap tvs. But, a huge win in the family time department first my mom, sister, and I went to get highlights in our hair, and I got a cute new hair cut too! I've never colored my hair before so it was a fun new experience for me :)

Don't I look thrilled ;)

All done and SO cute!

Then we went and hung out with my cousin Todd and his family that was in town on vacation where it's warm. We met up for ice cream ;) we had a great time catching up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a marvelous day with my husband the chef cooking the turkey and some of the sides. We had an abundance of pies and family time. Such a great day! It's no wonder why it's my favorite.

What makes John's turkey so delicious!

Ready for the oven!

Yummy!

Ready to Eat

Family Time!

Do we have enough Pies? (there were even two more)

My nephew LOVES Tuffy! :)

Cool!

So I finally feel as cool as all my 12-18 yr old girls at church. Welcome to the "Mac" world! I so wish everything I owned was a Mac!

Alaska: Seward Alaska Sealife Center

So this summer, while commercial fishing John was part of the rescue of a baby beluga whale. Check this out here: Race to Save Baby Beluga Whale | Video - ABC News Anyway, I couldn't wait to go to the Alaska SeaLife Center in Seward, AK where it was being kept.  However, I found out when I got to AK that shortly after the airing of the above news clip, the baby beluga died.  However, we still went to the SeaLife Center.  I learned SO much about salmon, got to feel pelts of seals, sea lions, and otters, and got to be in the same room as several puffins and other arctic birds.  

the please touch tank

love those spindly star fish! 

the young salmon

Those are eggs in the octopus tank... 

 

Jellies

the view from the porch